Upstate New York uninsured rate at historic low

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Just 5.7 percent of the New York state population is without health insurance, according to a Univera Healthcare analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau's 2017 American Community Survey. That's a historic low number of uninsured in the state, and a full three points lower than the national uninsured rate of 8.7 percent. The news for Western New York is even better, where just 3.7 percent of the region's population is without health insurance. "More people than ever before are reporting they have coverage that provides them with access to the high-quality health care available in upstate New York," said Christopher Booth, chief executive officer of Univera Healthcare's Rochester-based parent company. "We've never seen these percentages of the population with coverage."The American Community Survey is the largest and the U.S. Census Bureau's recommended source for examining uninsured data at national, state and regional levels. It reports the yearly uninsured rate for geographic areas with populations of 65,000 or more. The county-level data were aggregated to calculate the upstate uninsured rate cited by the health plan."We believe the historically low uninsured rates for upstate are a result of lower-cost health care in this market of nonprofit health plans and nonprofit hospital systems," Booth said.By comparison, the 2016 uninsured rate for the state was 6.1 percent, while the U.S. rate was 8.6 percent.View a Univera Healthcare infographic illustrating the census numbers at https://tinyurl.com/y8269gnb